My Scutum Press and Scutum Blank Construction

[sulla felix]

Hey Barry, yeah I used waxed linen thread, after I drilled out the holes using a 1/16" bit.

Thanks Matt.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Sulla, I have that problem with my scutum made by Len Morgan, which has the handle offset. My hand is still in partial anethesis, my pointy finger still weak! Definately a serious prob, and not just for people with large hands. Exacerbated by my seg!

Nice press BTW, look forward to your photos of the strip construction technique!

[Aurelianus]

I know this problem from my first Scutum :?

My tip (in my horrible English :wink: ):

Saw a whole circle into the plywood!!!!

Now take a piece of ash-wood and determine how whide you like to have the handle back from inside of the Scutum and determine the thickness for the best grip. Saw it and saw the rest in the inside-radius of the Scutum.

Round of the edges

glue it on the gain-strip of the Scutum and rivet it together with the flange of the buckle.

I have made a very fast sketch of that what I mean.

http://s119.photobucket.com/albums/o127 ... an0003.jpg

:!: Put the handle back from the inside of the Scutum more than it is shown on the picture!!!!!!


This handle works very well!!!!!

[Magnus]

Yep, that' works.

[Aurelianus]

.

you're welcome :wink:

[sulla felix]

Patrik, Matt,

Thanks for the tips (and the great sketch Patrik) - I will have to do this because the method I have followed just is not comfortable. Presumably this handle piece can be fixed after the scutum covering(linen/leather) ?

[sulla felix]

Nice press BTW, look forward to your photos of the strip construction technique!

Gaius,

It might take me a while to get to the strip construction scutum. Finding decent hardwood out here in the desert is proving somewhat of a challenge - plenty of Palm trees though :lol:

[M. Demetrius]

Finding decent hardwood out here in the desert

Finding decent strips that thin is hard NOT in the desert, too. I'm seriously considering getting some white oak boards and having them planed down to around 1/8" thick. White oak is good for bending. That's the stuff they use for those slat baskets, etc. As a last chance, I'm going to check into using basket slat material. I'll let all know if it is findable in a width substantial enough for use.

Someday, I'll probably split some from a log. But that would require felling a white oak tree, which doesn't look very likely.

[Aurelianus]

Presumably this handle piece can be fixed after the scutum covering(linen/leather) ?

Fix first at all the gain-strips!!!! One of them in the middle of the scutum (fit it that it has the right form of the handle – what is quite wasteful - or disconnect it by the circle.

Here you can see how it could look like (sorry I have no pictures of my Scuta at the moment).

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o127 ... tum228.jpg


Glue on the handle first before you are covering the scutum. Now cover the scutum first with linen an after that with leather. Now you should rivet the buckle and the handle very good together (so you must never fear to "lose your control" on your scutum if a adorable Teuton would kiss your scutum with his axe)!!!!!. 8)


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[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Oak strips would be ideal for the inner core layer, going by a description of a sheild consrtuction writen by Peronis, the outer were alder wood! This was a flat board auxilliary sheild, but I think a combination of wood types would be feasible to give a shield a variety of characteristics, ie strength, hardness and flexibility?

Peronis is a wealth of info! Amoungst many others!

[lvcivs]

I used linen for mine, but it can be tricky to paint on because of the texture of the fabric...

Primus Paulus and I had a similar problem when painting my auxilliary shield the first time. After covering it with some spare linen he had, Paulus ended up sealing the back of it with wood glue before he painted it, seeing as the glue he'd used had already seeped into the fabric as he glued and pressed it to the board. The paint only took two good coats on that side, but on the front, where I'd put nothing down on the fabric first, it took five good coats of paint to get the background filled in - nearly a half a gallon.

Sorry I didn't reply to that sooner, probably risking throwing the whole thing into chaos nowing me. :-P P

[Magnus]

So he applied the glue over top of the linen? I hadn't thought of that.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

A bit like wall papering? :wink:

[Magnus]

Hahaha, that's probably why i didn't think of that.

[Crispvs]

"Now cover the scutum first with linen an after that with leather"

If you can get it in large enough pieces, rawhide would almost certainly be better than leather, both for 'toughness' and being painted on.

Crispvs